Died On This Date (October12, 2009) Brendan Mullen / Founder of L.A. Punk Club, The Masque
themusicsover Brendan Mullen
DOB Unknown – October 12, 2009
Brendan Mullen is best remembered for The Masque, the legendary Los Angeles punk club that he opened in 1977. After moving to Los Angeles from London in 1973, Mullen took over a filthy room that sat right behind the notorious Pussycat Theater in Hollywood and transformed it into a rehearsal space for local bands. In a matter of matter of months, the room became a venue that some consider the flashpoint of the local punk scene of the late ’70s. Bands like the Germs, X, the Weirdos, the Go-Gos, and the Plugz all played some of their earliest gigs there. As could be expected, Mullen clashed on numerous occasions with area merchants, the fire department and the L.A.P.D. before the club was temporarily shut down in 1978. It briefly re-opened in another location in 1979 before closing permanently. Mullen later went on to book shows at The Other Masque and Club Lingerie, both also in Hollywood. In later years, Mullen wrote such books about the L.A. punk scene as We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, and Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley. Brendan Mullen died in a Los Angeles hospital on October 12, 2009. He had suffered a massive stroke.
Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the assist.
What You Should Own
Known around the Los Angeles blues scene as “Mama,” Laura Mae Gross was the owner of Babe and Ricky’s Inn which she opened on the storied Central Avenue in 1964. In no time, the club became a destination of local and traveling blues musicians alike. She hosted the likes of B.B. King,